Maternal employment and gender role attitudes: dissonance among British men and women in the transition to parenthood

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractThis study examines how changes in gender role attitudes of couples after childbirth relate to women's paid work and the type of childcare used. Identifying attitude-practice dissonances matters because how they get resolved influences mothers' future employment. Previous research examined changes in women's attitudes and employment, or spouses' adaptations to each others' attitudes. This is extended by considering how women and men in couples simultaneously adapt to parenthood in terms of attitude and behavioural changes and by exploring indirect effects of economic constraints. Structural equation models and regression analysis based on the British Household Panel Survey (1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007) are applied. The results suggest that less traditional attitudes among women and men are more likely in couples where women's postnatal labour market participation and the use of formal childcare contradict their traditional prenatal attitudes. Women's prenatal earnings have an indirect effect on attitude change of both partners through incentives for maternal employment.

Gender in the UK architectural profession: (re)producing and challenging hegemonic masculinity

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Households’ responses to spousal job loss: ‘all change’ or ‘carry on as usual’?

“…Women's roles may have changed substantially to include both family and work but working women tend to experience this as a 'stalled revolution' where men's roles have changed relatively little, leaving women bearing the brunt of the additional work required to service family and job commitments (Hochschild, 2003). While expectations of men's contribution to the care of their children have changed in recent generations and fathers are much more likely to be involved in child-caring (Sullivan, 2010), parenting is still primarily seen as an issue for maternal rather than paternal employment (Schober and Scott, 2012). Self-employed workers have arguably greater autonomy in setting egalitarian work schedules than employees, yet analyses of Australian Time Use Survey data suggests that self-employed mothers use this autonomy to fit around parenting while self-employed fathers pursue patterns of working unfettered by family demands (Craig et al, 2012).…”

Defamilisation and familisation measures: Can they reduce the adverse effects of pro-market pension reforms on women in Hong Kong and the UK?

“…Although there have been substantial increases in childcare places in the last 20 years, the current provision falls short of demand (Daly and Scheiwe, 2010). Furthermore women's low earnings may make such childcare unaffordable, restricting their options to return to work (Schober and Scott, 2012). Such options are affected by women's social class and income status (Warren, 2000).…”